1. Field
This disclosure relates generally to data processors, and more specifically, to the execution of branch instructions by data processors.
2. Related Art
Within data processing systems, branch target buffers (BTBs) are commonly used to predict the outcome of a branch and a taken target address of the branch so as to improve performance. As the number of pipeline stages within the data processing systems increases, the size of the branch target buffer (BTB) is typically increased in order to increase the hit rate and reduce the branch misprediction performance penalty. However, increasing the size of the BTB results in increased die area, access time, and power required for the BTB and its operation.